RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

That's too bad.

In the beginning the admin. creep tried to tell me there was a meeting and to go. I told him I don't understand Korean and that was the end of it. Amazingly that git actually was sensible in that situation. Though everyone else was already logical enough to not even bother me about going.

What a waste of time, that really stinks. Least you got your phone though, eh?

All this free time and I couldn't be more unproductive if I tried. The hell is wrong with me?

All this free time and I couldn't be more unproductive if I tried. The hell is wrong with me?

Story of my life...suffering from ADHD can be a real drag.

The only time I'm ever productive is when no one else is around or I'm under pressure.

Did lesson 10 with the grade 6s and 5s. Then I get to Grade 4 and start doing lesson 10 and coT makes a big deal about how "she's not done with lesson 9 yet and don't you have any materials for lesson 9." FFS how are you already behind with a grade!? I've already done 2 classes on lesson 9 with every grade!! And I only see each class once a week! Maybe if you didn't declare 5 - 10 minutes of free time at the beginning of every class with these kids you wouldn't be so behind. I feel like if she does that with my classes, she'll do it with her own solo classes too.

And now she's on the computer again. Obviously she just mangled the whole class so she could get more precious computer time at the expense of the children.  I would rather she just not show up at all but the way things are set up she has to be in the classroom or it'll be obvious she's not doing anything (English room at one school, go to each individual homeroom at our travel school).

At least the students are happy with the activity I gave them. There's at least that.

And yes, this is the coT that demands printed copies of the lesson plan each morning before classes so literally there is no reason for her to stop me after I begin the PPT and start making a fuss. FFS. This is why I hate elementary. This coT!!

Only finished half my classes for the day and already have a headache.  Is it just me, or is the school building an absolute zoo some days?  (I teach rural elementary). Kids completely out of control between AND during English class and their teacher is often nowhere to be seen.  It feels  exactly like  a preschool for big kids.  It's also a small school and there is no English classroom, so I have to go to individual classes to teach them.  I'm not willing to put on a circus show when I come in just so they'll hold their attention.   Is it just me?   

Stop trying to make useless small talk with me!! It's obvious you just like to hear yourself talk!! As much as I like my middle schools, I hope that's gonna be enough to help me survive a 2nd year with this "teacher." Half hoping she transfers but I worry that the replacement would be worse. Guhhh why do I have to deal with you twice a week!!

I was lucky to have a lovely CoT 2 years ago at my last school. I don't have a CoT now but it has its own crap to deal with (hence my last post). When there is no Korean teacher in the classroom the students lose all discipline because obviously it's okay to disrespect the foreign teacher. Either way it's hit or miss with or without a CoT :(

I honestly think it would be better if I could be alone. One school would definitely be fine because the classes are tiny (2 or 3 students) and I can manage well enough on my own.

My travel school I would be a little concerned about discipline (bigger classes though still small compared to big schools) but I feel I have enough basic Korean to manage. It's not like my coT does any discipline...

Perhaps overall solo teaching is less pressure, but I'm not handling the stress and noise and commotion of blatant disorder very well.  It varies day to day. There absolutely no guarantee that kids will be consistent.  However my personality is not very intimidating or commanding and I'm not a big person with a bellowing voice, so it puts me at a disadvantage in this job.  I am not here to yell and scream and be angry at students every day, but certain classes and kids have constant behavior issues which are not addressed and over time it's very draining.

It's often a lonely and difficult task, this one.  I think I just don't have that much thick skin. 

I've been at my current school over 2 years and I think I've overstayed my welcome, I genuinely believe there is not a **** given about English in such a countryside school with no other incentive or interest among the staff.  I just have a few months left to try and do my best.

I am so sad, lonely, and depressed in this country.

I know the job is easy. I know I shouldn't be complaining.

But every single day is a struggle and I still have 161 left on my countdown app.

(more of a whine/moan than a rant/vent, but whatever)

I sympathize with your misery. It's sad that you're unhappy. I wish you were happy.

But - anyone who says this job is 'easy' probably either a) doesn't care about their job very much, or b) is really bad and lazy at their job.

I don't think either of those apply to you. But, yeah. People who go on about how easy teaching English in Korea is are generally bad teachers.

I'm pretty unhappy here myself. I negotiated a location that is close to my friends in the interview, but when I got here, put me in the opposite side of the country to where we negotiated. :\ Now because of the distance, I can't meet my friends as conveniently as I'd like, and I'm finding it very difficult to make new friends here.

As for your comment about easy being a sign of a bad teacher. I agree a bit. I find this job easy, but also incredibly frustrating at times. I think I'm a bad teacher, but I am trying very hard to improve. Bad as in, I still haven't found my lessons to be effective. Even my co-teachers note they can tell I am trying hard to improve though!
However, after 5 months here, they are still not telling me where I need to improve, even though they have the English level to do so, even when asked directly. :( As I get told "some parts are good, other parts need to be changed."

I hate eating lunch with my coworkers. It's so lonely. Every day I go with my 3 English coteachers and sometimes the gym and music teachers. All 5 of them can speak English to some degree, however they always exclude me from conversation. I've tried making small talk with them... "How was your trip?" "Wow did you feel the earthquake last night?" But it just turns into a simple response and they carry on the conversation without me in Korean. I feel like it's a little rude to butt in and ask what's going on, so I just kinda gave up and eat lunch in silence every day. I understand and don't expect them to go way out of their comfort zone to speak English to me all during lunch time, but I would appreciate them including me every once in a while....

This is like my daily life at school, but it's slightly worse because they all know I can speak Korean and choose to ignore me anyway. I bought sweets for them and only one person ever mentioned it, even though it was during my first week and the chocolates were nice ones from Belgium. Sigh. I don't even get greeted by a lot of teachers, and they've done it since day one so it's not like i've pissed any of them off. Life is lonely here! The kids are cute and say hi so i might end up sitting with some of them once or twice a week at lunch because istting with coworkers just makes me feel lonely or like im a burden

Only finished half my classes for the day and already have a headache.  Is it just me, or is the school building an absolute zoo some days?  (I teach rural elementary). Kids completely out of control between AND during English class and their teacher is often nowhere to be seen.  It feels  exactly like  a preschool for big kids.  It's also a small school and there is no English classroom, so I have to go to individual classes to teach them.  I'm not willing to put on a circus show when I come in just so they'll hold their attention.   Is it just me? 

Sometimes it does seem like a zoo. In my school, there are no teachers in the hallways to monitor what the students are doing. It's a free for all - screaming, running, hitting, students breaking things, throwing their books etc. When I first got here, my CT asked me about the behavior of American students vs Korean students. She was shocked to hear that rules such as no screaming/running/hitting were actually enforced (at least where I grew up and where I taught later on) She was like "do the students actually listen?" and I just looked at her like... "that's what the teachers and hall monitors are for..."

Here is a tangent, but it's pretty interesting the way Korean schools seem wild to me because I don't see things like order/respect/silence/safety put very highly on the list of importance, but my CTs think American schools are free for alls because girls can wear lip gloss and teachers don't try to break couples up when they inevitably form.

Yeah, I am constantly hearing about how kids must be so much more respectful and quiet and disciplined here than back home (in America). While I never taught at home, in all my schooling, I have never had as many issues with students and loudness and whatnot as I do in classes here, and same with all of my teacher friends.

I was lucky to have a lovely CoT 2 years ago at my last school. I don't have a CoT now but it has its own crap to deal with (hence my last post). When there is no Korean teacher in the classroom the students lose all discipline because obviously it's okay to disrespect the foreign teacher. Either way it's hit or miss with or without a CoT :(

I am also CoT free and it can be hell with some of the classes. I'm not a big fan of students being scared of their teachers, but sometimes it sure is helpful. While most of my current classes are fine, I do have a few that are awful and so disrespectful because they know the English teacher doesn't really have any authority. I have had some of them just straight up tell me no or that they don't want to.

HaLo,

I was told the same thing years ago, so I showed up and feigned interest.

After several weeks, I decided to stay in my office to see what would happen.

Not a word was mentioned.

Perhaps you could give it a try and see.

Hang tough.

Haha, I tried that for the last meeting two weeks ago and I got an urgent kakao message reminding me of the meeting. So unfortunately, that won't work, but thanks for the thought.

Try asking for a translation after every single sentence and saying you don't understand. Pretty sure after 1 meeting of interruptions they'll all agree that it's unnecessary for you to attend!

Why do people open up a sheaf of papers and then only put some of them in the printer tray...
It's designed to accept all of the papers that com in one set of plastic wrap.

Only finished half my classes for the day and already have a headache.  Is it just me, or is the school building an absolute zoo some days?  (I teach rural elementary). Kids completely out of control between AND during English class and their teacher is often nowhere to be seen.  It feels  exactly like  a preschool for big kids.  It's also a small school and there is no English classroom, so I have to go to individual classes to teach them.  I'm not willing to put on a circus show when I come in just so they'll hold their attention.   Is it just me? 

Sometimes it does seem like a zoo. In my school, there are no teachers in the hallways to monitor what the students are doing. It's a free for all - screaming, running, hitting, students breaking things, throwing their books etc. When I first got here, my CT asked me about the behavior of American students vs Korean students. She was shocked to hear that rules such as no screaming/running/hitting were actually enforced (at least where I grew up and where I taught later on) She was like "do the students actually listen?" and I just looked at her like... "that's what the teachers and hall monitors are for..."

Here is a tangent, but it's pretty interesting the way Korean schools seem wild to me because I don't see things like order/respect/silence/safety put very highly on the list of importance, but my CTs think American schools are free for alls because girls can wear lip gloss and teachers don't try to break couples up when they inevitably form.

You make a very real point here. I have always subconsciously been amazed at the lack of supervision of students and rule enforcement.  Isn't it pretty similar out in public as well?  Meaning little to no enforcement of driving rules as well.  It's something that people here just are not aware of yet.  And yet they wonder why they are so stressed out all the time, at least in terms of students' behavior.

Why do people open up a sheaf of papers and then only put some of them in the printer tray...
It's designed to accept all of the papers that com in one set of plastic wrap.

Laziness, I imagine.

Why do people open up a sheaf of papers and then only put some of them in the printer tray...
It's designed to accept all of the papers that com in one set of plastic wrap.

Laziness, I imagine.

I think my school fears paper jams so they think putting in less paper at a time will somehow help.

Why do people open up a sheaf of papers and then only put some of them in the printer tray...
It's designed to accept all of the papers that com in one set of plastic wrap.

Laziness, I imagine.

I think my school fears paper jams so they think putting in less paper at a time will somehow help.

Mine only fits about half the pack for some reason.